GHC2 million per day being spent on hot meals for the needy – NADMO
NADMO (National Disaster Management Organisation) has disclosed that the government is spending GHC2 million on the hot meals being provided for Ghaianans in the lockdown areas in the wake of the COVID-19 in Ghana.
In an interview, Communications Director of NADMO, George Ayisi, indicated that each pack of food costs the state GHC5, adding over 400,000 people are being fed under the social intervention program.
“We are spending 2 million a day on the hot meals we are providing and it is not one person alone preparing the meal. It is spread across many people,” he said.
The President Akufo-Addo in an address said government through the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, and the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), working with MMDCEs and the faith-based organizations, will provide food for up to four hundred thousand (400,000) individuals and homes in the affected areas of the restrictions.
The President made it known that the food distributed will be in the form of dry food packages and hot meals delivered to vulnerable communities in Accra, Tema, Kumasi and Kasoa.
During the distribution, many are seen massed up at the venue without adhering to the social distancing protocol.
However, some health experts have condemned the manner in which government and private groups are distributing food to some Ghanaians in the COVID-19 lockdown areas.
Some health experts, Presidential advisor on Health, Dr. Anthony Nsiah Asare and Epidemiologist, Dr. John Amuasi said the distribution of food in these lockdown areas situation may defeat the purpose of the partial lockdown if care is not taken.
Meanwhile, the Coalition of NGOs in Health has appealed to the government to make use of traditional rulers in its social intervention provisions in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana.